MADRID.- La Casa Encendida, which is part of the Fundación Montemadrid, presents ARSTRONOMY. Incursiones en el cosmos, an ambitious exhibition curated by Danielle Tilkin that immerses us in the complex world of the cosmos through a reflection on space travel. The astral, the cosmic, the scientific and the ufological, all themes that run through the art of the 20th century, have often been a basic source of inspiration, thought and provocation in contemporary art.

For thousands of years we have asked the same questions. The enigma of whether or not we are alone in the universe has fascinated some, shaken others and inspired most. In the fifties, in the midst of the controversy surrounding the utopian and the scientific, space became, for some, a metaphor for escape and the yearning for freedom and, for others, a search for everything that has yet to be revealed and understood. The fascination of members of the kinetic art, cybernetics and Zero group movements in Europe with outer space and the cosmos provides the point of departure for our journey, with videos by Nicholas Schoffer, Gyula Kosice and works by Paul van Hoeydonck, who, with his small sculpture The Fallen Astronaut, became the first artist to have a one-man show on the moon, courtesy of NASA.

Openly inspired in the scientific world, artists, writers and film directors of the time began to go beyond the limits of cognition and to foresee concepts that would later be debated by researchers. They would prove that art, through perception, can take us places that we have not yet visited. Comics, science fiction films and television series have introduced space travel and research of the cosmos into popular culture, unleashing our curiosity and provoking endless debate and controversy.

This connivance between science and the imagination, in which technology goes hand in hand with fiction, is what best defines our concept of “Arstronomía”. Although not an exhaustive survey, this exhibition brings together international artists of different generations that, since the 1950s, have reflected upon, researched or interpreted innumerable phenomena surrounding the astral, the cosmic and the scientific in order to produce works in which the imagination, fantasy and creativity engage with space, politics, science and technology.

The show is a reflection on science fiction, space and the universe through photographs, videos, paintings and sculptures by, Alfonso Borragán, Pamela Breda, Michael Buthe, Robert Dimatteo, Evru, Greatest Hits, Keith Haring, Susan Hiller, Mike Kelley, William Kentridge, Yves Klein, Július Koller, Gyula Kosice, Paul Laffoley, Robert Llimós, Abu Bakarr Mansaray, Isamu Noguchi ,Tony Oursler, Trevor Paglen, Panamarenko, Rotraut, Sigmar Polke, Joan Rabascall, Thomas Ruff, Nicolas Schoffer, Bob Smith, Peter Stichbury, Thomas Struth, Ionel Talpazan, Marc Tansey, Paul van Hoeydonck, Angelo Vermeulen, Anton Vidokle, William Adjété Wilson Michael Zansky.